Thursday, April 4, 2013

Weekly Favs 4/4/13

(I'm kind of bored with my usual "Jen's Gems" title, so I thought I'd switch it up with something a little more descriptive this week. I'm open to suggestions, though, if you have any!)

First up, Thomas Zahler (author of Love and Capes) tweeted this ADORABLE mini Joker from WonderCon last weekend:

 I WANT THOSE WING TIPS. 
And the pants - but in my size. And the flower. :)

John and I keep an IM window open all day while we're working (or, "working"), so he likes to send me links to his favorite finds. Here's an especially squee-worthy one from yesterday:

Photo by Karin Thorell

These are baby geese ducks leaving the nest for the first time. (D'AWWWWWW. Must...nuzzle...)
Don't you want a little plush toy of these guys? With beanbag filling so they're extra squishable?

[Note: Holy bird corrections, Batman! Apparently calling ducks "geese" is all it took to get our very first Epbot Epcot. Ha!]

John and I finished BioShock: Infinite last weekend, and let me tell you: it's every bit as amazing as you've heard. There *was* a scary section with some spooky bad guys, and John nearly jumped out of his skin one time when he turned around and there was a bad guy RIGHT THERE, but other than that, it's still way, WAY less scary/disturbing than the first two BioShocks. If you're on the fence, definitely give it a go! (I've even started a new game on my own at the "easy" level, although I don't know how far I'll get!)

If you're not interested in playing it yourself, though, then check this out: someone has edited together the entire story to make a 3.5 hour long movie! And believe me, this is a *fantastic* interactive movie, so I'd highly recommend you watch it any way you can.

Found via SuperPunch



One of my most popular finds on Pinterest this week: Comic Book/Pop Art nails!

By Reddit user ReneeJade, who has a Tumblr nail blog here.

So fun, and relatively simple, too! As someone already pointed out, this would be perfect with a Roy Lichtenstein face paint/costume.

This has been all over this week, but in case you haven't seen it yet: artist Michael Lee Lunsford decided to explore the question: What if female superheroes were fully clothed? So he drew new versions of classic superhero costumes while still striving to maintain the overall feel. Even for the ones where you might prefer a little more skin showing, this is a great conversation starter for fans and young kids alike:


Fully clothed Elektra & Supergirl

See the rest over on GeekNative! (Found via my friend Alex on FB.)

Related, but also covered just about everywhere already: The Hawkeye Initiative is both hilarious and a valid commentary on the "hyper-sexualization" of women in comic books. Take a look, if you haven't already!

And finally, since it's been days since I tempted you with goodies to drain your bank account on, BEHOLD:

The pendant from The Neverending Story! Only $15.99 from Geekify Inc.

That's the same Etsy seller who makes those stellar iPad and Kindle covers that look like the book from the movie, but I like that you can snag just the pendant, too. It'd be perfect as-is for a necklace, or for custom projects!

John and I have a crazy ten days or so coming up, as we're headed off to a renaissance faire this weekend and my parents are arriving for their big Disney vacation on Monday. It'll be nice to break out of my reclusive hermit routine, but I'm hoping my anxiety plays nice! How about you guys? Any fun plans for the weekend?

33 comments:

  1. Love those little geese! And especially liking the fully clothed superheros. On Bioshock: my husband got it, and I would LOVE to be able to play it, but I get some pretty bad motion sickness watching him play it. He got Portal 2 at the same time, but it doesn't do me the same way for some reason, so I'm just playing that right now. I honestly like it a whole lot better than the little of Bioshock I've seen anyway. I love the defective turrets :)

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  2. Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for sharing the link to the Auryn pendant! I have been searching for such a long time for just the perfect one. Everything else has been too goldilocks (too small, too big, wrong color, etc). So thank you again, I had to run over and buy one even before commenting.

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  3. Participating in a flash mob and trying to find a house to buy. One's definitely more fun than the other. House hunting is a lot of work=( Have fun at the Ren Faire!

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  4. I believe those are Goldeneye ducklings; I have lots of photos of them in nest boxes, but never in the process off hopping out. . . you have to catch them before they hop out if you want to band them, 'cause they don't hop back in!

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    1. THANK YOU Holly c! That pic has been bothering me for some time because I know geese nest on the ground!

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    2. I was going to guess Wood Ducks, which are also cavity nesters. They're certainly not geese though!

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    3. I thought wood ducks too, since they are the only ones I know about that jump out of their nests! Now I know others do too. I understand the "geese" thing though, they are colored like some geese.

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  5. My boyfriend and I just finished the new Bioshock last night and it was AMAZING! We both jumped and screamed at the bad guy right behind us too & then spent the next 10 minutes laughing at ourselves. I was so proud of myself for finishing the game as I am usually horrible at FPS but the story and setting was just so amazing I buckled down and pushed through (even if it was on the easy setting). Now we are just waiting for out friends to buy/finish the game so we can geek out about all of out ending theories!

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  6. Thank you for the link! It's support like this that keeps us doing what we do <3.

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  7. but Jen...

    that little Jokers pants and shoes probably ARE your size!

    *MWAH*

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  8. On the same vein as the fully clothed superwomen and the Hawkeye Initiative: http://lesstitsnass.tumblr.com/ NSFW due to nudity and language, though the nudity is artistic. She goes into the anatomy of drawing, detailing how a lot of the poses female comic characters are placed in aren't even physically possible.

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  9. Those comic book nails are freaking amazing. LOVE them. I didn't even notice the 'white gleam' wasn't actually light it was actually white. My eyes were tricked!!! I figured it out when I saw the step by step, only then.

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  10. I know EXACTLY which part of Infinite you're talking about! I am a tough cookie when it comes to horror/suspense, but I was really stressed out during that part what with the lack of health/salts/ammo and the creepy mental patient presidents. But when I turned around there, I just flat out screamed. I haven't finished the game yet, so no spoilers, but I keep calling that thing Katamari because I don't know what it is but that's what it looks like.

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  11. As an animal person, I'm really torn by the gosling picture (baby geese are called goslings) because geese nest on the ground. Plus, these little guys do not have any feathers on their wings yet and therefore would not physically be able to fly. I have a feeing someone threw them up in the air just to get this shot. Or perhaps they are jumping off of something and the photographer photographed them pointing up to make it look like they're trying to fly. At any rate, this pic has bothered me for some time because of the true nature of geese.

    That being said...in case you didn't know, the pendant from the Neverending Story is called the Orin. :)

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    1. Some kinds of ducks nest in hollow trees, and the ducklings do have to jump out! Wood ducks do, and someone above mentioned another kind.

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  12. Oh wait! Holly c has relieved the burning that the gosling picture has caused in my brain! WHEW!

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  13. I watched Hubby playing Bioshock, as I'm a game watcher too. It had the same effect on him as reading a really good book, you know, that stunned feeling you have when you put it down? It was wonderful! Thank yuo for sourcing the film, I'll have to have a look at that tomorrow.

    I love the way the wee little chicks are flapping their wings and webbed feet trying to fly!Too cute!

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  14. The cute baby birds reduce my capacity to say anything clever about juggling geese / goslings.

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  15. Have fun at the Ren Faire!

    I'm finishing up crocheting a slime for my boyfriend, then going LARPing. And they just switched up the plot teams, so the old plot people are playing, and my boyfriend gets to head this campaign. This weekend is his first event. I'm super excited for it!

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  16. Amazing things this week! : D I love those fingernails - and the Hawkeye Initiative is a perfect blend of disturbing and hilarious. The birdlets are so cute - but I think they're actually duckses, as geese nest on the ground and (some) ducks build nests in tree holes (or boxes) many feet off the ground. Full of cute!

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  17. Hey, that's my tattoo! The Auryn, that is. Not any of the other stuff. It means a lot to me, so I might need the necklace too...

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  18. I just bought AURYN (the necklace) and then told my husband that is what he bought me for our anniversary. :)

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  19. That Elektra looks awesome! I don't know why people are afraid of giving women cool costumes too. Are they afraid they'll look like prudes? Even fully clothed Elektra still doesn't come off like that.

    Have fun at the ren faire. Now I really want to go to one too.

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  20. Weekly Geekery?

    The birds are soooooo cute! :)

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  21. Your life is so exciting, le sigh :) I hope you enjoy yourself!

    I enjoyed Jens Gems, it had a nice ring to it *ba dun dunn* How about "Weekly Geekery & Sundries"?

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  22. Not geese! They're either Bufflehead or Goldeneyes, types of duck which nest in cavities in dead trees, up to 40 feet high. The ducklings leap out of the nest (no, they can't fly yet but they do bounce quite well) within a day or so of hatching and follow mom to water. No throwing involved. :) Watch them leaving the nest in this video - wheee! http://youtu.be/4W7CmCT6Soc

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  23. I am SO EXCITED to watch this Infinite movie! I'm not a gamer myself (I'm too "shaking chihuahua" to play), but I love the artistry and story of a good game!

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  24. As a mother of a seven year old girl who loves super heros, I love the idea of fully clothed superheroes. My daughter dressed up as Captain America for Halloween, mainly because the Iron Girl costume was too skanky.

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  25. Jen - love your blog! If I could make a suggestion? Would you consider setting your external links to "open a new browser window?" This way, I can click on your links without "leaving" your site/page! Right now, I'll click on one of your links, and then six clicks in, I've lost you! Thanks for considering this!

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    1. I've actually had a few requests for this now, but sadly I can't find a way to change that setting in Blogger! If anyone has an easy hack to manage it, then please let me know! For now, though, you can just right click any link and choose "open in new tab." That's what I do for all of my browsing.

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  26. So this is just me, but I think the fully dressed Zatanna and Elektra are much sexier than their counterparts. I think it's the mystery involved.

    And fun plan this weekend is the Championship bout of my roller derby league. Yay!

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  27. That cute little Joker makes me want to go as Joker next Halloween. I'm not sure if I can pull it off, but it sure makes me want to try. Enjoy your time with your parents! I'll be praying your anxiety plays nice and is a nonissue this week if possible.

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  28. I usually HATE fake nails, but that paint job was really cool. Hope you enjoy an anxiety free weekend. I spent Friday night having a ball watching my friends son play Edna in a fabulous showing of Hairspray at his Arts/Science Magnet High School. Everyone in the cast was perfect and the orchestra was fantastic. It makes you cry to see kids so talented!

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